Early the next morning, Callum met with the Baron, his wife, and some of their senior organizational people; military personnel, like Captain Xinyi, as well as their nonmilitary personnel. In the meeting, Baron Wei Jin confirmed the oath wife made on his behalf.
Callum approved a formal ceremony where the Baron and his people would give their oaths of fealty to him. The ceremony was planned to take place later that evening and would precede a feast.
Neither party wanted to make too big a deal about the ceremony as the oaths were only temporary ones that would last until the Spring, when the pass would open up some more. Still, this pleased Callum as he was still cautious about his new guests.
He was still going to have Primrose keep her ear out for any plans to betray him, and he did not want to give away the fact that he was a Castle Lord. There were plenty of upgrades he could work on, like the Core Room, that wouldn't advertise that the castle they were in was magical.
But having the Baron and his top personnel give formal oaths was a step in the right direction. Being alone in the cave and ostracized by his local community had taught him how little he could truly accomplish by himself; he needed people he could count on to support him.
He still needed to grow strong enough to be able to fulfill his oath of vengeance. However, the fights over the past week showed him how much a strong, well-balanced, party—working together—could accomplish.
"Lord Murray, my steward took a careful inventory of all of the items we looted from the enemy camp. I have distributed the food supplies to the kitchen staff as well as returned recognized personal effects and gear to their original owners."
Wei Jin said as he handed Callum an inventory list of all of the loot that had been cataloged.
"No one had a key to your storage room and we didn't want to disturb you; I had most of the rest of the items placed into my room for safekeeping. Depending on what you want to do with all of that, you're quite wealthy."
Callum's eyes widened slightly as he went over each line of the inventory. The chest's contents alone was enough to pay for a small army; he suddenly realized that they might have. The list also contained enough weapons, armor, and potions to outfit a couple of parties.
He didn't know if the chest with all of the coins and precious stones in it was the pay chest for all of the mercenaries and bandits, or if it was all of the loot the bandits had acquired by banditry. Whichever it was, the owner was probably pissed when they discovered it was gone.
There were also a dozen Beast Cores; most of them were Common and two were Uncommon. He knew they were valuable, but he already had several hundred Beast Cores hidden in his caves.
Primrose had finally confirmed that he could use Beast Cores to help pay the cost of the various upgrades. A large grin was plastered on his face as envisioned all of the upgrades all of those Beast Cores could buy him.
He started rubbing his hands with glee as he remembered how he could get a dozen or more in a single run. He was looking forward to trying that Goblin Dungeon out now that he was much stronger.
Once Callum was done ogling the list of treasure, their discussion turned to how likely it was that they were followed to the castle; which was not likely. Since that was the case, it would probably take The Dog a week or two to track them down using his special Slave Hunter Abilities.
Callum also learned that the Baron used to act as his Count's General and had extensive experience leading men in battle both large and small. Callum had been a simple farmer until recently, so he simply observed and tried to learn.
Callum listened intently as Wei Jin and Captain Xinyi discussed how to organize their own scouting parties and how far out they should be placed. Ultimately, Wei Jin agreed with Captain Xinyi's more conservative deployment; the scout parties would not stray into the main pass.
Sending scout parties into the main pass would simply leave physical or magical trails leading back to their side valley. Instead, the scouts would find vantage points that they could use to peer into the pass and keep a lookout for any incoming enemies.
They needed more time to recuperate as well as time to hunt and forage more in order to increase their food stocks. The castle could help neutralize the advantage in numbers their opponents had, but they only had enough food for two or three weeks.
_____
Callum met separately with the two adventuring parties and the merchant group at various times throughout the day. He attempted to recruit them to his side with a month to month contract; he wanted a personal force that wasn't beholden to the Baron.
The two adventuring parties, led by Veronica Blix and Ravi Sardar, quickly accepted. Both parties appreciated having strong walls they could return to when they weren't running through Dungeons. Plus, Callum was paying them very well.
Neither party was at full strength; they had lost members when they were captured and in the subsequent escape. However, they were still a potent force that Callum wanted in his corner to counter the Baron's force.
That left him with his last meeting with Folxi, the gnome that Amarok had snuggled up with yesterday morning. She turned beet red when he asked for the meeting with her and her people.
She simultaneously kept trying to apologize to Callum as well as thank him for the incident with Amarok. Callum eventually gathered that she had been freezing, under a thin blanket, before Amarok found her.
"Don't worry about it, he's got a mind of his own. I'm glad that he realized you were cold and helped you out," Callum said to the diminutive woman.
"Could you tell me a little bit about your group, are you trading for a merchant house? Or were you acting independently?"
"We were under contract, but that asshole voided the contract when he didn't pay the damn ransom!" Folxi seethed.
"He insisted on that late season run and then an early snow slowed us down. He portalled out when the bandits ambushed us; and then later paid a ransom for his personal armsmen and his bed warmer."
"How would you like to work for me? I understand running caravans through the pass is pretty profitable. If you can make it through safely. However, my castle should make traveling through the pass a lot safer."
He wanted Folxi's trade knowledge to help him establish a trading outpost in his future settlement. Eventually, he envisioned having warehouses, blacksmiths and woodworkers to fix wagons, inns, and a small herd of livestock to replace losses on the road.
Merchant caravans could stop at his castle to rest or take advantage of the various services he could offer them; he could even set up patrols to help make the route safer. He would profit from every caravan traveling through the pass or taking advantage of his future settlement.
He negotiated with Folxi and her people until both parties were satisfied with the outcome. Similar to the adventuring groups, he signed a short term contract with her. He wanted to work with her group before signing a longer term contract.
In the best case scenario, Callum hoped to get all of them to sign an oath of fealty and pledge themselves to his cause. However, he needed to see their personal character and abilities just as much as they needed to observe him.
Callum was happy for now though; he now had sixteen individuals contracted to him personally and not beholden to the Baron. He was willing to extend some trust to the Baron, but he needed to have options available should he turn against Callum.